Local history: How Mineral City combated smallpox

Mineral City officials took every precaution necessary to protect their community from smallpox in the midst of a nationwide epidemic that killed between 4,000 and 5,600 Americans and sickened tens of thousands from 1897 to 1903.

On the morning of Aug. 29, 1901, 11-year-old Fannie Robinson of Mineral City developed a case of smallpox. By nightfall, she, her parents and her six siblings had been moved from their home — along with all of their possessions — to an isolated farmhouse a mile northwest of Mineral City by village authorities to help prevent the spread of the dreaded disease.

The Robinsons remained in quarantine for two months as the disease claimed the lives of two of the children. Their physician, Dr. William Willigman of Mineral City, also was placed in quarantine, living in a tent outside the house while attending to their daily medical needs.

Mineral City officials took every precaution necessary to protect their community from smallpox in the midst of a nationwide epidemic that killed between 4,000 and 5,600 Americans and sickened tens of thousands from 1897 to 1903.

Those precautions included a ban that summer on visits to Mineral City by residents of Magnolia and Somerdale, where smallpox already had struck.

The Robinson family become infected through an act of kindness.

John Robinson, the father, had been helping to nurse two smallpox patients in Somerdale and apparently brought the disease back to his family. After Fannie became infected, her mother developed a mild case.

The disease ran its course, and by Sept. 13, both Fannie and her mother had made an almost complete recovery and Dr. Willigman had returned home, the Mineral Pointer newspaper reported. As a precaution, though, the Robinsons were to remain in isolation for another 21 days and all of their clothing and household possessions were burned.

Once October arrived, the situation took a turn for the worse. Smallpox spread to the other children in the family.

“The youngest child, a babe three months old, died last Sunday morning and was buried the same evening,” the Mineral Pointer reported Oct. 11. “On Tuesday morning little Johnnie, 5 years old, suddenly passed away. He was getting along very nicely, being up and about the house, when he contracted a severe cold and died of congestion of the lungs.”

Dr. C.E. Brothers, who was now treating the family, told the paper that the other family members were now convalescing and predicted they would make a full recovery if no unforeseen complications arose.

On Oct. 30, the Robinson family was released from quarantine, moving to a home owned by the Tuscarawas Coal and Iron Co. near town. “A complete new outfit of household furniture and utensils was given them by the Board of Health, and a generous supply of clothing was donated by the people of the community,” the Mineral Pointer said.

The newspaper noted that the quarantine cost the village $1,000 and expressed the opinion that it was actually the duty of the Sandy Township trustees to care for the family. But the paper said overall, Mineral City got out “dirt cheap.”

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“The town escaped the disease scot-free, and business was not stagnated to the amount of one cent,” the Mineral Pointer said.

The following June, another Mineral City resident developed smallpox. Walter Barkheimer, 18, contracted the disease while working in Pennsylvania and then made his way home to Ohio. He was quickly placed in quarantine in a tent pitched in woods outside of town.

The latest case didn’t faze the people of Mineral City.

“There is no excitement in Mineral City whatever,” the Mineral Pointer said. “We’re too metropolitan to pay any attention to anything short of an earthquake or a volcanic manifestation.”

Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter. He can be reached via email at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.